Dear Engaged Bystander: A few months ago, I had the pleasure and privilege to interview Cassandra Thomas , Director of the Houston Area Women Center for her incredible story of hope. In her story, she certainly busted my own stereotype of a college fraternity when some friends at a fraternity literally pulled her from a car because she was drunk, with a guy she did not know and they also knew she was recovering from a recent rape. Cassandra’s honesty about this event is both moving and profound. She also takes this story and the commitment of these young men into her work today where s

Dear Engaged Bystander: The xCHANGE is a really unique opportunity to talk with Dr. Victoria Banyard, a nationally recognized expert on bystander intervention and the lead researcher of the UNH program, Bringing in the Bystander. Here are the details:

The National Sexual Violence Resource Center is pleased to announce the first in a series of online forums that will focus on supporting the xCHANGE of information between advocates, prevention educators and researchers. The forums are free and all you need to participate is a user account at nsvrc.org.

Dear Engaged Bystander: I want to introduce a leader in the men’s movement, a trusted colleague and a good friend (yes I do have a strong bias here), Rob Okun. Rob has been involved in pro-feminist, anti-violence men’s work for the last two decades and is currently the editor of a wonderful magazine, Voice Male. I had the chance to ask his perspective on men, violence and the opportunities offered through bystander engagement.

Dear Engaged Bystander: I was hooked on this new journal article because they created their program, Engaging Bystander Approach (ERB) with the understanding that it was essential to add the word “engaging” because the term bystander, alone may conjure a passive or negative image of men and women who witness a problem and do nothing.

Dear Engaged Bystander: When I give talks, I think that the hardest concept to get across is that our current frame for decision-making is wrong. Talk with anyone who sees something that makes them uncomfortable (e.g., a man pushing against a woman breasts in a NYC subway or a neighbor taking pictures of all the young girls at the public pool) and the decision they are trying to make is “to do something or do nothing”. I think that when we are uncomfortable, we need to decide WHAT is the best and safest thing for me to do in this situation. And there are hundreds of actions we can take in

Dear Engaged Bystander: 50 years later, the impact of a bystander to child sexual abuse could not be more profound. Imagine finally making the decision to talk about incest with your elderly aunt – only to find that she is willing to listen, acknowledge your reality and loving say “I am happy to hear you know it was not your fault.”

Dear Engaged Bystander: If you have not yet heard, the NY Times (and a number of other publications) wrote a story about a horrific case of an 11 year old child being raped by as many as 18 boys and young men. The case has rocked the lives of a small community in Texas.

Dear Engaged Bystander: OK this is shameless promotion. And I am letting you know about this new FREE online course because it is an easy to use, quick overview of the bystander approach to sexual violence prevention.

Pages

This site is supported by Grant/ Cooperative Agreement No. 1UF2CE002359-02 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.